TUNDRA LAUNCHES WOMEN AND CARS STREAMING DOCUSERIES

0:00 hello everyone thank you so much for being here um again i'm audrey i'm an automotive 0:06 writer for the tundra i'm very excited to be speaking to all of you today um 0:12 so to begin i'd like to just go around and have you guys introduce yourselves tell 0:18 us a little bit more about your background on what you've been up to the 0:24 organizations that you're a part of um i thought we'd start with renee 0:29 um so for those watching renee brinkerhoff is a race car driver and the founder of 0:35 valkyrie racing and i'm sure you can take it from there okay great 0:41 i live in denver colorado and uh i started valkyrie racing 0:47 i think it was probably about 57 years old i'm 65 now and shortly after that we started 0:53 valkyrie gives which is our philanthropic farm and i do extreme rallies in a 1956 1:00 356 four shift wow that 1:06 um that kind of vintage racing must present a lot of challenges for you 1:12 i'm excited to talk about those as the conversation goes on um and then we also have christina nielsen 1:18 who's a professional performance card direct sports car driver and the founder of accelerating change christina welcome 1:27 hi everyone thank you yeah i'm professional racecar driver been uh 1:32 mainly competing in gt racing and sports car racing um a lot in the u.s 1:37 have been you know a two-time champion won that championship twice back in 16 and 17 in 1:43 imsa made history as a woman and um yeah that kind of became a springboard for me 1:49 wanting to engage more with women who were interested in cars or maybe we're afraid of getting into it 1:55 and that's how accelerating change um came about together with mariana small my business partner and um the main 2:03 focus we've had is i would say track days i would do a lot of track days for women cater to 2:08 women but we work with different partners such as bmw michelin porsche companies who are all for engaging with 2:15 the female demographic um so our goal is to continue to grow the community and have more women 2:21 enjoy and realize their passion for being behind the wheel which is basically what brings me to the track 2:29 yeah i think that's something that we're all interested in getting into today um 2:34 and then lastly we've got emily miller who's an off-road racer and the founder 2:40 of rebel rally emily if you want to tell us what that's all about yeah absolutely um i 2:46 was very fortunate that i got the opportunity to race for a legend and be trained by rod hall who was the 2:53 most winning off-road racer in the really the history of baja and was able 2:59 to uh race um in places across the globe which he always said that the best way 3:04 to see the world is from behind the windshield and when i was racing i really 3:10 was usually one of the only women out there you might have three to 500 teams 3:15 uh out you know uh racing in an event and there might be only one or two women 3:20 driving and i'm also a coach um i've trained over 5 000 people 3:25 to drive off-road um and then i learn navigation i really focus on off-road racing so 3:31 it's great to see women who are out on the track um and this is a different discipline it's it almost reminds me i 3:39 came from a background of skiing and cycling they're line picking sports which is great i find that women are 3:45 great drivers great navigators and so i started the rebel rally i also own a 3:51 sports marketing company but i started the rebel rally which is the longest competitive off-road rally in the 3:57 country it is 10 days eight days of stages no gps no cell phones no support 4:04 crews outside of our team we have a staff um a paid staff of almost 113 4:11 people we build for base camps for the desert and it's a extremely transformative um 4:18 journey for women and also a great way uh to help kind of 4:24 get them really passionate and excited about driving which is great because everyone on the call uh feels the same 4:30 way and so i think we're really this whole group is really helping to bring a lot of women into motorsports 4:37 and lift them up yeah well that's certainly something that christina 4:44 is doing with her organization as well which is interesting um i i know you have a family history in 4:51 the sport as well but i i wanted to hear more about um what 4:56 got each of you into into racing and into motorsports so 5:02 christina would you say that besides having um that history with your father where 5:08 there was like kind of like an aha moment where you were like i want to do this too uh actually my dad has nothing to do 5:14 with it um the first time i sat behind the wheel of a go-kart um i went a very traditional pass a little bit late for 5:21 when most gopro drivers start i was 13. um but yeah i mean i drew a rental coke i 5:27 loved it um then i spoke to my dad about it and you know he helped me move forward but yeah he wasn't actually my 5:34 first introduction to to the driving side of karting but yeah i mean i 5:39 quickly fell in love with it i thought it was so much fun i played tennis at the time um which i never thought i was 5:44 going to give up now i played more as a hobby but um yeah it was kind of love at first sight if you can say that and i think 5:51 that's the case for most i mean accelerating change isn't about producing race car drivers it isn't about you 5:58 competing in in imsa for example or you know these really high level championships that's i'm in myself 6:04 but it is more about being the springboard for getting women onto the track 6:10 and helping them grow and push their comfort zones and at 6:16 least getting started some of them might move to um more 6:21 what's the word i would use um [Music] like like smaller championships or you 6:26 know smaller races um something that's more on a hobby level um 6:32 but yeah most of them don't go into racing but it is about getting them on track and 6:37 and making them realize how great it is to be driving and doing this some as something that's on the side for them of 6:43 their normal job or their family you know whatever their priorities are and what they do every day 6:48 so yeah i think there's still such a long way between 6:53 just getting the first women on track and creating awareness about that this is also doing the simple thing is doing 6:58 a track day is also for women and that's where we're the springboard and 7:03 essentially there's been so much focus on always catering to the men among the manufacturers i definitely see a change 7:10 within this and yeah i'm super stoked that we got companies like porsche bmw and michelin 7:16 who are for this mission and want to engage with the female demographic more and we're sort of becoming that like 7:23 gapping that's um and and being that bridge for them to to connect with the female audience that we 7:29 are bringing out because you know i think in the end i wasn't ready to do something like this 7:35 before i felt like i had the credentials um when i had established myself as a racecar driver this was the next right 7:43 step and something that i can see myself doing um beyond my racing career 7:50 yeah well there's definitely that disconnect isn't there of uh women thinking maybe that motorsports 7:57 is uh too expensive and of a hobby something to uh where you have to go to all in and uh 8:05 devote all of your energy to it but there really are so many more practical 8:10 applications um i know that's certainly something that rebel rally can teach women um 8:17 i renee i'm curious to hear if you've noticed that as well 8:22 um it's uh it's kind of a field where 8:28 people don't think that they can get into it first and then you find that there are many many good reasons to do 8:34 so yeah definitely well i didn't think i'd be racing almost 10 years later it was 8:41 something that i was doing one time to fulfill an obligation i felt i had to 8:46 myself because um i'd been telling myself for decades one day i'm going to race a car and it was a 8:53 very subconscious conversation and i wasn't even aware of it and one day i heard what i'd been saying 8:59 and thought this is not what i want to be hearing right now because i just finished 9:06 raising four kids and home educating them and giving up all my time and self-interest 9:12 to do that took it so seriously um and uh sort of put my own personal goals 9:19 and ambitions and like life zest as a young woman in a box and didn't even really realize i was 9:25 doing that so when i realized i said this thing of one day i'm gonna race a car i had to go do it but it wasn't 9:31 something i thought i would continue doing just like i gotta go do it because for whatever reason i've been saying it 9:36 and then i'm done and i'm going to go back and join having free time and developing hobbies and interests and 9:41 doing things that i've been thinking about and that was uh my race experience that first race experience someone died the 9:48 first morning two or three days later there were cars falling off cliffs and catching on fire 9:54 and all this i had no idea that the race i got in uh was the most dangerous tarmac rally 10:00 race in the world it's a very notable event and i jumped into the deep and not knowing and i had all these fears i had 10:08 to immediately address immediately push through and conquer and it totally changed the course of my life 10:15 it changed it brought out all these things about myself that had been dormant or i didn't know were there 10:21 and so here i am after all these years but uh racing a car and as and i didn't even 10:28 know that car racing was a male sport i never watched racing i didn't know anything 10:33 about it you know i heard a word called nascar or formula i'd never watched any of those races i didn't know about 10:39 motorsports so even when i went down there my first time i didn't know until i got there that i 10:46 was the only woman driving and there were all these teams in all these cars so i was that's how ignorant i was 10:52 and uh and yet there was so much for me to absorb and to figure out how to how 10:57 to navigate how to drive because the first time i went i did both in someone else's car i had no time to think about 11:03 anything except for survival and uh and then i later realized you know when i went back the next year with 11:09 my car and we made history in my car as a woman driver and had all these things happen 11:14 after all that you know it was sort of a slow dawning of this is a man's sport 11:20 and because i never felt treated differently in my what i was doing was different than most arenas 11:25 i think for driving it wasn't it's not professional so it's different um you get a lot of professional drivers 11:31 that participate but there's no money in it so it's you know it's just people go to do this to have this amazing 11:38 raw extreme dangerous adventure right um so 11:44 you know driving and driving a car is you know you can do it in so many anyways and experience it in so many 11:50 ways and racing uh for me once i had this transformative experience i just said i have to keep 11:56 doing this and um so yeah we're here we ended up taking 12:02 the car from racing once a year in mexico to just finishing taking it all the continents 12:09 car racing does something to anybody male or female right anytime you get outside your box and address your fears 12:15 you get changed so uh if you have any inkling to do it you know man or woman i think people should 12:22 definitely get behind the wheel and get on the track with people like christina or something and experience what that 12:28 does um thank you 12:33 yeah well i think it's really important that you bring up that you didn't know at first that this is you didn't have 12:39 the view going in that it's this male dominated sport which freaks so many women out um i've heard rebel rally 12:46 described as a rally that an off-road rally that just happens to be for women 12:51 you know why is it important to you guys to make that distinction yeah it it's really important because 12:58 what we wanted was a badge of honor and we 13:04 basically what we want didn't want to do is be seen as this like like oh the women's rally or the little 13:11 girls rally or a rally light and so what we did is we went out of the gate and 13:16 just made it as hard and as extreme as possible in these remote locations and it for so 13:23 many ways and then it if we had opened it up to everyone 13:30 it would have been filled up probably in the first day we get called every day i'm a man are you going to do another 13:37 rally or will you do when are you going to let you know men compete but the thing is is 13:43 if and i've had women say i normally don't do women's events and then i say well would you 13:49 have signed up for the rebel if it weren't a women's event and these are like 13:54 powerhouse automotive journalists and they say no i actually probably wouldn't have because of that intimidation factor 14:00 but what i want is i want this badge of honor i wanted to create something that the men wanted to do and the men 14:08 respected as well as the women and then it just so happens to be it's not we're not beating the drum like this 14:15 is a women's car rally women's rights etc we wanted to create a funnel that 14:20 was accessible and so what we did is we broke down some of those barriers to entry you have 14:25 pooled mechanics so everybody works with the same mechanics team 14:31 um you gain those costs with administration we plan all the logistics 14:36 they can't bring support through so they're not having to coordinate um that 14:41 and you make it a price that is similar to let's say a nice hawaii or a ski 14:46 vacation or a safari in africa um it's kind of like a gateway drug 14:52 for automotive and we also um it's for stocking with extra vehicles we did not 14:58 want people to have to have a race car to do it um managing the cost and the 15:04 upkeep of a race car in a tube tube chassis vehicle is extremely challenging and expensive 15:10 and the vehicles that we already have are exceptional 15:16 feats of engineering and so um we create and we also made it to where it's not 15:21 about speed so that's another part of the funnel but it's about efficiency so you can 15:28 reinforce great driving skills really getting to know your car 15:34 doing it at a price that you can afford or attain or work toward and that feels 15:40 accessible and then just so happens to be for women so i think that's probably the long 15:45 version of the answer of that question um but i want that when 15:50 when you know women say that they're proud to do it and men say oh my gosh that is the 15:57 coolest thing out there will you do that for you know for the men's market you know 16:02 it's it's pretty fun to hear that yeah i i love that you use that term 16:09 gateway kind of like a gateway drug i think that that's definitely the case when you're 16:14 showing people skills that they can use with their own cars um but i am curious i love hearing all 16:21 these stories but i'm curious to hear more about some of the obstacles that you guys have faced 16:28 in building your careers um i know that these organizations did not come from nothing what was the 16:35 process like of um building them and get gaining support 16:40 from the industry i i actually think you know with what 16:46 you just talked about how you target the women the experience that you aim to create 16:51 we're exactly the same like completely aligned you know it's not a matter of like is this like 16:58 you know customized to women does it mean it's less it's not as tough it's not as difficult it's not as challenging no not 17:04 at all it's just a matter of the perception and society that these things are done by men 17:11 and you need to cater to the women to encourage them to come and join these events because they don't see it as an 17:17 option for them and it's something that they don't consider and in the end 17:23 you know we want them to consider it i have women as well listen i am all for i have never competed only against women 17:30 like motusword is an equal sport i compete against the men i compete with the men i have competed with a few 17:36 brilliant women um but the majority are men throughout my career and that's how it is i like it 17:42 that way uh i'm looking for i'm sure you are as well 17:47 being a springboard where the women tried with us and then they have the courage to go and join because i have women saying oh i don't want to go and 17:54 do that like women should be able to join the menstrual it's not a question of whether it's the right thing or not 17:59 to exclude the men from that specific day it's a matter of actually giving the women the opportunity to realize that 18:06 this is also for them so i mean i completely would agree with everything you said like we run the same 18:12 business model with our events and the same mentality behind it um so that's 18:17 really awesome to hear sorry i went a different route here i was just very excited about what you were telling us 18:22 thank you you know i i think when we've been in that experience we understand as 18:27 women what the barriers are to entry for women and you know if i always say that 18:34 if women represented 30 to 50 percent of the racing field we wouldn't need to do these we wouldn't 18:40 have to have these no exactly and you know i've been called sex for doing this i'm like well you 18:47 know i remember three years i coached a program from michelin and bf goodrich where women 18:53 could come um and they were invited and i i didn't have a single woman participate in a 19:00 program that they were offered to do for free for three years and i say well they're not excluded 19:06 but they're not feeling included or something's going on so i do think it's important to have these these funnels 19:13 and these experiences um and women get very excited about it um 19:20 we we need to keep giving them these opportunities but also let them understand that it is not easy 19:26 you've got to earn it you've got to have the grit um not everybody gets a trophy 19:33 the trophy is showing up and participating and it's um 19:39 and i like i said you know boy you bring on 30 to 50 of the population um 19:46 you know out there racing as women and we you know we've made a huge impact and 19:52 our job this time yes that's great now the other thing i i 19:58 wanted to mention that i really appreciated christina that you brought up is having the support of the manufacturers and i just want to applaud 20:04 them um we wanted to build a platform for the manufacturer's vehicles to shine so it's 20:11 not just for the women but it's for the view every day you don't have to have a super you know 20:18 like super expensive race vehicle to learn how to drive what 20:23 you own well and it's um been great to see the manufacturers last year we had 11 20:30 participating manufacturers we have multiple manufacturers as sponsors g kia 20:36 alexis we have programs like ford ford toyota honda uh mitsubishi rivian um 20:44 you know we have elec nissan uh pirelli has been an incredible 20:50 partner um the it's it's really great when you can give that platform to them but it's not they 20:58 want to do it not just because it's women they want to do it because they actually believe in the totality of your 21:04 program it's a chance for their cars to shine and just so happen to be driven 21:10 by women and do they love the fact that they're supporting women and helping them yes but it's in a very authentic 21:16 way and let's you know take a moment also to praise the men i mean i have plenty of men in my life who i 21:24 can dedicate a thank you for in my career you know same with the partnerships that we've had for for the 21:31 events that we deal with in accelerating change um that the instructors our chief instructor like there are several of 21:37 guys who you know have made an impact and have been a great 21:42 part of our effort so you know it's i mean i always believe like in anything 21:47 that i do i try and align myself with good people um i think now we talked about obstacles sometimes understanding 21:54 who is a good match for you to work with who has your back who is trustworthy um who shares your vision 22:01 you know you have your strength and your weaknesses how does that person complement you in terms of strengths and 22:07 weaknesses so i mean definitely people skills understanding who the right people are to work with 22:13 and um yeah moving forward with the people who are beneficial for you and where you you bring something to the table and so do 22:20 they it's good you know can i just dovetail into what you're saying because i have been 22:27 one of those women of the mind of saying i it doesn't 22:33 you know the fact that it's an all women's event doesn't make me want to do it um in fact 22:39 my first reaction is well why do i want to do an all women's event i want to compete in a in the full field 22:45 right but what you're describing is really important and giving those opportunities 22:51 whether it's what you're doing christina or you're doing really giving women an opportunity because it 22:56 really uh does take over coming some hurdles that i think we have as women innate in 23:02 us that we're not even always in tune with where we defer to men especially in in 23:07 arenas where they're typically more visible and more adept or it's more oriented toward them 23:14 so if i have an opinion and they have an opinion let's say if you're a woman 23:19 and this is a quote man's sport you may not listen to your own sense about it especially if you're a newbie especially 23:26 if this is something new for you you're gonna probably rely upon what they're saying and 23:31 it and it a lot of times it is because they're a man they're a man and they have the experience and this is their 23:37 arena right but if you do that and you have that kind of beginning in a sport like a new 23:44 sport or a new experience like we're discussing uh i think that cripples you and it and 23:50 it gives you a false beginning a bad beginning an unhealthy beginning so instead of like when in your event you 23:56 know um your rally they can learn to trust their own instincts learn to have their 24:02 own accomplishments not listening to uh someone else's voice that um and relying upon it because it's 24:10 a man and i and it's not to prejudice men and it's not their fault necessarily sometimes i have definitely had 24:16 experiences where men no matter if i've been on the podium more than they have because they're a 24:22 man they feel they're right and they're pushing me to do it their way um i've you know but then i've had 24:28 worked with men who have totally opened up the gates to let me learn everything 24:34 and to and and to explore together and and for me to learn alongside them 24:39 as as a true mentor and not as over overseeing me in a sense of it's 24:45 more on an equal plane so just hearing you guys has given me uh an 24:50 appreciation of for what you're doing and an understanding of really it is sort of uh aha moment for me this 24:56 morning it's really important these opportunities that you're providing and uh because there are just so many 25:04 hurdles and you're gonna make them have success quicker and easier then they can build on that and you're 25:10 eliminating some of these other things where they might feel uncomfortable where they wouldn't get involved or 25:15 wouldn't push themselves so taking that part out of it and then letting them explore and develop and 25:21 learn i i am seeing the value i'm seeing the value i think it's so i think it's important 25:27 you've won me over i'm a true believer now i became a true believer you know i grew 25:34 up all the time you know uh big brother pushed me since i was like i couldn't 25:39 come home i couldn't go in for dinner until i threw like a perfect bullet spiral like several of them in a row 25:45 when i was six yeah um you know i i always raced against the guys and i 25:51 also competed in other sports and and you know against guys etc or trained with them 25:57 and so what happened was is i went over to africa and i competed in 26:02 an all-women's event that i had found out about um and my 26:08 there weren't other americans there were about 130 teams of women and my race boss encouraged me because 26:15 my plans were to race the cross-country fia cross country world championships 26:21 which were all over northern africa and i didn't have to take a support crew didn't have to run a race car um i had 26:27 support from general motors out of europe so i went over and did this i had podiumed every race that i had 26:34 entered up until that time and i got beaten and boy talk about humbling because 26:40 there's nothing tougher than to compete against a team a field 26:46 filled with smart experienced women you get out there off-road racing and 26:52 the guys know that you're on you can just push them you can push them you can sit on them you don't even have to pass 26:58 them they know that the you know the woman is right behind them they start driving harder their tactics and you 27:04 know then they get ahead of themselves they're you know ego sometimes can get in the way 27:10 and women can be very strategic especially when it comes to endurance events and you know endurance events you do 27:17 endurance events and you have that it's that chess game and boy you know like a whole bunch of 27:23 strategic you know amazing women out there that's tough and 27:29 the other thing that i found is that it i have so many great friends from overseas who i've competed against and 27:36 have competed with as teammates and there's nothing better than having that 27:41 circle of women with shared experiences in any sport you play or in any in work and 27:49 sport and friendships and you can kind of bench race with them um and it's um 27:56 it's just a very uh unique experience the other thing too is that on the rebel you have a vibe out 28:03 there where the women help each other even though they're competing against each other because they know that they need to build build those strategic 28:09 alliances also i wasn't even sure if i could get the permitting if i said i was doing a 28:14 rally in america because land management officials would assume it would become about speed and the women are very good 28:21 at following the rules pushing the rules right up to them but not crossing them 28:27 being very careful about protecting land and not that men don't do that but there tends to be 28:32 a little bit different mentality and um i think that would change i think that 28:39 um there's a chance that if we open this up to men they'd probably come in they 75 of the field would break their cars 28:46 on the first two days and then realize that it's not actually about speed it's about strategy and they 28:53 they would figure out how to become great competitors i see this and christina i'd love to hear from you too 28:59 or both of you when i um train you see this really well on the track when you go onto the track and you have women and 29:07 men in a class you'll tend to see that the men will go out and like do this crazy fast lap and then crash and burn 29:14 you know as they're learning you know and it's this you know just like i will you know it broke well i'm 29:20 gonna build it and make it better to where it can accommodate my you know like i'm the next mario 29:26 andretti i'm just waiting to prove it and women will tend to start and learn 29:31 and take the information in take the coaching in and kind of come a little more linear 29:37 and improve take that coaching continue to improve i'll see a little plateau and 29:42 then they have a breakthrough and continue where so it tends to be like this or like this with women 29:50 and then they keep going and the men tend to be a little more like this they both get to the same place 29:56 but the women tend to break the equipment a little bit less but they don't necessarily learn how to 30:02 fix the equipment you know i i've seen that in off-road you know because they're a little easier on the equipment 30:08 they really focus on their driving technique the men can be a little tougher a little bit more heavy on the 30:14 brake in the throttle break more pieces learn how to fix it um 30:19 but you know it's going to be very interesting is we see more women competing head to head with men 30:26 and then who ends up on the podium so i don't know christina does anybody have any feedback 30:33 on that and by the way i do want to say that um men are usually our biggest cheerleaders for 30:39 the rally they are the ones that are so excited they um really push 30:45 the women in their lives to compete in it they're encouraging i i hardly hear a 30:51 negative word and i really um encourage women 30:56 to take that approach because i've seen more women say how can you do that how can you take 31:03 that time off how can you leave your family are you sure is that a good thing that you should be doing with your time and 31:09 i've seen more women actually almost be more negative or less encouraging 31:16 than i've seen the men and so i really encourage women to take a step back and before 31:23 you know questioning don't be afraid to say go for it chase your dreams 31:30 yeah and i think you bring up a really interesting point about how women in many cases can be a little more 31:37 naturally cautious um and for a sport like racing we tend to see that as a 31:43 disadvantage but in many cases strategically it's not um certainly in terms of what you were 31:50 saying where you might be a little more hesitant to go all in it's a setback but 31:57 um i'm curious to hear if uh renee and christina if you guys have 32:02 experienced that too where strategically you're just thinking in a different way that is putting you um on a different 32:09 level from the rest of the field you want to go ahead renee okay sure 32:15 yeah and christine i don't know how it plays out in your kind of racing it may be different but i can say in rally 32:20 racing um i just think in my experiences as a woman driver that 32:26 i bring something to the table they don't have and they really need and it is more of looking at this as a chess 32:33 game like you were saying or as a plan and executing each turn and not letting 32:38 this thing that can take over of what do they call it the red mist or whatever you know i've had guys tell me 32:44 don't let the red mist get you and thinking what red mist you know i don't have that problem you know 32:50 it's more of about executing each turn and improving and staying focused and i don't have this um kind of 32:59 since i've raised a lot of mexico i cut this macho thing that has to take over and where you sometimes throw everything 33:06 aside and it's like and you start becoming irrational and it becomes more about 33:12 driven by your emotion or your ego or you got to win in it at any cost and it's not that you don't 33:18 push but it's always measured risk like how fast am i going to come into that turn knowing there's a cliff there and 33:25 and and you have to stay on the road seven days if you're in mexico you've got to get to the finish so yes you have 33:31 to be speed you have to have speed but you have to have endurance you have to get to that final finish 33:36 and so constantly measuring that and um um i just think we have 33:41 an ability to be more level-headed and more sensible even though women are typically characterized as being very 33:47 emotional i don't see that in the driving at all i see we're less governed by those emotions and we take 33:54 it more in an analytical mental way of how to execute and how to achieve and um we can we can be super successful 34:05 okay there's a lot of things that we talked about i might undergo things here um i would say first of all 34:11 in my racing i don't see it but it's also because i am competing with a lot of men that i 34:17 have a lot of admiration for they're very good drivers they're past that point you know some of 34:24 the things that we're talking about it is at a earlier stage in your career or in your hobby or whatever it might be 34:30 and of how you're treating um you're driving but in terms of you know women having more of a linear progression like 34:37 and men being you know going more up and down um i mean for me in my experience also with 34:44 accelerating change or coaching at track base it's confidence the guys walk in 34:50 like here i am let's go and the women are a little bit more hesitant but our instructors also say that's why 34:56 the women are such great listeners because they actually take the input and there's not um 35:03 you know they're a bit more open to hearing what the instructor says you know the whole aspect of 35:11 you know are the women being questioned whether they can do it or not i mean i think this is such a big topic in a lot 35:18 of ways it doesn't only translate into driving and racing it's also career-wise 35:23 like the guys you know i think a lot of men are perceived as more confident than 35:29 women you know there's questions such as you know if you decide to start a family you have a kid 35:35 you know plenty of women get the question or are you gonna come back do you think like men never get that 35:40 question they're never asked if they're gonna come back to the job after they have the kid you mentioned in terms of 35:45 prioritizing should you be with your family should you be doing things what should you be doing instead of the hours that you're spending at the track 35:52 you know there's the question like oh can she handle all of it but you never question a man like it's 35:59 and it's not i'm not saying it's only men it's plenty of women asking the same questions we are a part of the issue 36:05 also but i think the whole perception of whether i can do something goes way beyond just being at the track um 36:12 i think it's a general perception that we're seeing a lot of life cases and scenarios um that are taking part 36:19 all over the world in all sorts of industries and it's not only related to just being at the track 36:24 so i think there's um there's a lot of um mindsets that could be affected and 36:30 change and it's also something that you as an individual if you get the 36:36 questions has to know how to navigate and i think there's a space for 36:42 um for developing a skill set like that and believe it or not something like that that might come in your everyday 36:47 job that's applicable at the racetrack so a lot of the there's a lot of crossovers 36:53 no matter what you do in life i would say there's a lot of skill sets that i take with me in my other projects that 36:59 i've learned from racing christina you bring up something so important you're racing when you're 37:05 racing you're racing at this level where um you know the people have risen to the 37:10 top competitors and that is really important when you get into when you're in amateur rally or let's say the baja 37:16 1000 where you have a lot of people who you know are more pro but then you have the biggest the big part of the field 37:21 are more amateurs you know it's a bucket list thing or um but when it comes to excellence and 37:28 rod used to always say this to me only about 10 of the field are really great drivers 37:33 you know uh at least where in the things that we do or where you have massive fields you know when you when you get 37:41 down to where it's 20 30 40 cars and something where it's been vetted through that's different but excellence is 37:47 excellence and excellence is not gender defined by gender 37:52 and you're right it's confidence it's competence based on skill and confidence 37:58 based on competence you know it's based on skill it's over human beings 38:08 i've learned the hard way that just because somebody is super confident does not mean that they're competent 38:14 well that's what it is yeah that's confidence rooted in its confidence 38:19 rooted incompetence and confidence without competence is just unbridled ego 38:26 and but that is not gender specific you give um when you look at the the top 38:32 ranks in anything it is not about gender it is about a set of internal qualities 38:39 and this compass that you know this internal compass that guides you and this 38:44 capability and you know determination and hard work and i think that 38:50 you're right christina this what's going on right now we're moving in such a good direction you know there's a lot 38:55 happening but boy you know the goal is you know ladies you know who who are listening to this 39:02 reach for the top you know it's not about gender and those obstacles and christina said 39:09 something earlier when when you guys asked us to consider obstacles that have been our in our in 39:15 our way you know i've never really felt obstacles i've just seen i love 39:20 obstacles i love somebody to tell me i can't do something like that's the best thing that i can hear 39:26 um and it's it's really um important to surround yourself with great people 39:32 and if you surround yourself with great people regardless of gender you know 39:38 irrespective of gender um you're going to have less obstacles 39:43 because some of the biggest obstacles you'll have are people 39:49 and either bad people or people that are not working as hard who mediocre is okay 39:55 it's not about excellence you strip that away and surround yourself with a great team that's what i love about racing 40:02 it's not just about the driver it's about the entire team and that will decrease 40:09 the obstacles in front of you period so that's kind of step one to make sure 40:15 that you have the least amount of obstacles in your way absolutely and those people are so 40:20 important like what you said if you don't surround yourself in that 40:26 especially at the core circle with people that are 100 percent positive willing to take on a challenge 40:32 willing to find a way to get through it a team having a team mentality and 40:38 cooperative and all these kinds of things you've described uh it's going to be very difficult to 40:43 find success but just having people with those right attitudes and write those 40:48 core values and having all those boxes ticked it is so much easier it is so much 40:55 easier to get where you want to go and to have success just it's important to acknowledge that you 41:00 don't like if you can pick great but you don't always have the choice sometimes you're working for a corporation where 41:07 you're put into a team and you know there might be some people that you don't get along with so you 41:12 know pick wisely when you have that opportunity but you know you can also 41:18 learn how to navigate those situations when you can't pick and i think yeah you know like you know walking away 41:25 from a situation and you know deciding like is this is this like a deal breaker for me or how 41:32 can i make the best of it you know it's so hard sometimes i mean i've also been racing with people who 41:38 weren't you know a good match for me or where there was um you know tension or friction like 41:44 especially when results aren't produced a good team a championship winning team work together to solve it but you're not 41:51 always going to be with a group of people that are going to want to solve it together then suddenly it's everyone 41:56 out for themselves like how am i going to protect my own back and 42:01 it is so difficult to do and i'm also still learning i'm 30. i you know i'm still learning all of these things 42:08 but you got to walk away from it knowing knowing that 42:13 you did everything you could knowing that you did your best i think that's number one 42:19 right yeah yeah there's so many aspects that are just like unpredictable situations 42:25 you can't know exactly what's gonna happen um and it's uh 42:30 accepted it's a learning process yeah see i think that is so true you you 42:35 can't that is probably one of the biggest challenges and probably the biggest challenge that experiences when you 42:42 you know i'll be a project manager you know in my sports marketing company and i've kind of said yes you can build a team oh except 42:49 for these legacy people that was my best friend you know that person was in my wedding you can't and they they turn out 42:55 to be the toxic person in the organization those are really challenging in fact i started the rebel 43:01 uh one of the most exciting things i had the opportunity to do was build the team that i wanted so i really do have the 43:07 dream team but the second somebody and i empower our leads 43:12 that i don't just say i'm picking the team and here you go because i had to learn that hard way wow they were maybe 43:18 i thought they were right but maybe not for that lead in this area and so i had to kind of take a dose of my the um my 43:25 own medicine and it's really um uh 43:31 a really wonderful thing when you can walk in and say thank you so much for your time it's been great but it's time 43:36 to go like now not in 15 minutes in five minutes so that the organization 43:42 doesn't one person can take down an organization um 43:47 and but it's really challenging so christina i'm 55 and so if you and i'm 43:53 still learning this so if you have any really good tactics for um when dealing 43:58 with those uh challenging people challenging moments i do agree with you though sometimes you just 44:04 need to step away not engage but it's really challenging and every situation is different 44:12 um i think having some years helps you know that's helped me but that will always be hard 44:18 that will just always be hard but you'll learn you learn the most when it's hard right 44:24 i you know i learned walking away from a situation when i approached somebody who helped me understand how do i handle 44:30 this situation moving forward and i think the most valuable lesson um 44:37 was like you know if it isn't about you if it isn't know who you are know what you 44:43 bring to the table know what your values are value yourself and if whatever the other person is 44:49 throwing at you give the ball back like if it's not you know it's not targeted at you 44:55 learn how to analyze and understand and read people understand who they are where the 45:00 comments are coming from are they generally directly like directed towards you is this a person who's rejecting 45:07 their insecurities you know analyze the situation look at it a little bit more 45:12 logically and and analyze it rather than reacting with emotion absolutely and i 45:19 think i think emotions are still important i'm a passionate person i can get fiery like i'm better than i was a 45:25 couple years ago but you know it's passion is important for what you do and 45:30 to keep you going and to keep your drive but yeah like being analytical and 45:36 understanding and reading situations correctly and that's why i'm saying like i always teach you like a learning experience because what was the 45:43 conclusion of your analysis and how would you do it differently next time because 45:48 i mean it goes back to driving right like i come back to a racetrack i'm like oh i remember the car used to step out 45:55 like this here a little bit of oversteer here how did i correct it how did i catch it and that becomes something that you 46:01 practice and you use and i use it every time on a track but the people side is also important 46:07 and that's what translates to every industry and yeah you got to break it down you gotta 46:14 go through those different analysis projections whatever it might be that what is gonna happen also think about 46:20 the consequences you know what consequences are there from the decisions that i make 46:27 how is that going to affect myself how is it going to affect other people so pros and cons list 46:33 making sure you're mentally and you're right in the right head stage has head space for you 46:38 and understand what is causing this situation is it you or is it somebody 46:44 else is it your ball to grab or is it somebody else then you can give it back to yeah we we actually teach that um in 46:51 rally training um that when there are two people in the car uh take 100 46:57 of responsibility for the mistake so meaning you need to go back in and 47:02 even though that person may have made the manifestation of the mistake two people influenced that situation to 47:10 create the mistake so if you take 100 ownership you look inside you go what could i have done differently to prevent 47:17 it it's better to prevent a mistake or what could i have done you know as part of this team 47:23 and then hopefully that helps your teammates want to do the same analyzation you know or in that analysis 47:30 um and then nobody's pointing fingers because getting into finger pointing especially in racing you don't have time 47:37 um but that's really toxic uh it's it doesn't work when both people though aren't willing to do that but 47:44 that is something that we we teach is uh take evaluate it take 100 of the 47:50 responsibility talk about what you could have done differently and then agree on how you're not going to make that same 47:55 mistake again because you can't keep making those same mistakes yeah but then you're also solution 48:01 focused you're not focusing on figuring about the problem like we agree there's a problem and then you're working your 48:07 solution focused and the other thing is to always remember what is the goal of that 48:13 whatever you're doing what is that objective and what is that goal and how do we achieve that goal and so 48:20 sometimes you're going to bite your tongue sometimes you're going to you know you're there's you just have to have 48:26 every tool in your box to figure out the solution for whatever's thrown your way and the 48:31 personal part of it is massively challenging cars are going to break it's mechanics things happen those are simple 48:38 problems at least for me it's it seems to be the more simple thing but the thing between human to human and the 48:44 dynamics of the people is the most challenging part and you just have to learn different ways to navigate through 48:51 whatever comes your way and all the kinds of things you've described to get to the goal 48:57 with your head held high with knowing you've done the right thing you've been a decent individual you've respected 49:02 those people in your team and you've respected yourself to get to that goal 49:08 well renee i love that you bring up that you know it is very simple sometimes in racing sometimes you're doing well 49:15 you're winning sometimes you're not sometimes the car is not working and there are all these challenges um 49:20 so as we start to wrap up here i just wanted to hear from you guys your final thoughts on 49:26 what keeps you motivated you know through through those challenges and 49:32 what your takeaway would be to women who are looking for ways to be motivated in the 49:38 way that you guys are anybody want to go ahead 49:44 yeah anyone could start go ahead christina um 49:52 you're asking what keeps me motivated and what keeps me going and and what drives me forward yeah 50:04 you know i think a lot of people have a passion but they're also aware that 50:09 it's not always that your passion can bring you an income and you can live by it so it's about combining what gives 50:16 you the lives that you desire and gives you something that you spend your every day on 50:21 i think it's important to always find something within your job or something that you do 50:27 that you're passionate about because you know you spend a lot of hours during the day doing that 50:32 so i think that's going to be a massive part of what you should be focusing on 50:39 um yeah i mean i've been super lucky i've gotten to to drive race cars and drive 50:46 so many cars that are part of you know people's dreams like aston 50:51 martin ferraris porsches and you know i'm i'm looking on how to i can 50:58 be a part of bettering the um bettering the industry and getting some of my viewpoints across and 51:04 what i think would be important now that i've lived in it for quite a few years i hope to be a part of it for many years for it um there's so many different 51:11 roles that you can take and i'm excited to to keep developing and and seeing where i'll end up in five 51:17 years ten years fifteen years that's great thank you 51:23 emily any last thoughts a couple of things i christina talked 51:30 about passion i mean we're passionate about it aren't we so fortunate we get to do this 51:35 but it's it's rare yeah and it's fun you know i have fun 51:40 i am passionate about it and some days it's level two fun you know uh where it's not fun in the 51:47 moment but when you look back because it's really hard but it's fun when you look back my father also gave me some really good 51:54 advice right before he passed away a couple of years ago he said we only have this one go around 51:59 you know seize every day don't take it for granted enjoy it um 52:06 but do it the way you want to because every day is passing and so 52:13 the other thing that happens is on those days where it's really rough and i go oh gosh i now have to get another permit 52:20 and the insurance just went up again and all these things you know i'm fortunate that i get to go out and set a course 52:26 on the most and the most beautiful train in the world and that inspires me but then i get a letter 52:33 from a woman who's competed and tells me how they got a new raise at work because 52:40 of what they did in the rebel that they were noticed in a way they weren't noticed before they 52:47 left i in this and it's got out of a abusive relationship because of the 52:53 strength that they gained the friendships that they built that they needed at a time in a dark moment 52:58 and how this rally is so important to them so you know i have the other components of my work and those other 53:04 components helped give me the skills to launch their and to produce the rebel rally but when you get those kind of 53:10 letters um it makes every single tough moment of producing this particular 53:16 program worth every second of it um and you also uh 53:22 we just can never forget to laugh you know i'm not curing cancer out there but i sure am having fun 53:30 and um having fun is is really important um and i think that 53:35 also it keeps me going you know i hope i can do this when i'm 90. that's great that's great 53:42 well you know unlike you christina this is not a profession where i'm um earning 53:49 a living right i took you know we had success in this race and we kept making history in this event and 53:56 i realized that when people found out what we were doing with the car and what 54:02 was being achieved that they would say you're doing what and you're in what and and there was this 54:09 attention of having their ear and i got so much out of racing and i 54:16 and i got to this place where i can't do this anymore it can't if it's if it's only for me we 54:21 would go and we would take things for the kids in mexico and we would do things for orphanages and do everything 54:27 we could when we were down at the race to have an impact on on people in that culture 54:32 but it was always this yearning in this knowing as i want to do more i want to do more how can we do more and when i 54:38 realized that there was a voice that i had a voice i said how can i use this voice bigger have more impact and 54:45 realize that the car and what was being done with that car was so unique that that was really the vehicle to have a 54:52 voice and have an impact to affect change around the world and that's how we decided to make this massive goal and 54:58 i got into the you know we're gonna do this you know sometimes you set these goals for yourself and you have no idea 55:04 the cost the time the energy the pitfalls the hurt all the stuff that that is going to take to achieve that 55:10 goal so we started out like okay we're going to take this car we're going to put it in the most extreme environments 55:16 for most extreme races take it places it's never been before in events and and 55:22 do all these you know big things and do this on every continent and it's like yeah yeah we're 55:28 gonna do this and realizing this is a hard thing but realizing that doing that 55:33 uh we would have an opportunity to have a bigger voice and have a bigger change and sitting here we started that in 2017 55:41 and uh we we're sitting here now and we've had success in doing that and to me that 55:47 is so rewarding and and what you were saying earlier is i want to be able to do this until my last breath you know 55:54 and it's it's about living life not for me and it's for those that need and that 56:01 are needed and what we focused on are kids that are being trafficked and it's primarily sex trafficking millions of 56:07 kids and uh having an opportunity to raise now um almost six hundred thousand 56:12 dollars and knowing that because our racing has sponsored all that money that we're giving 56:18 to prevent kids from being trafficked and uh rescue kids that are being trafficked and then rehabilitate them 56:25 and then and then opening that opening the door for me actually getting to go down and being involved in investigative 56:31 work and doing rescue work teaming it up for law enforcement talking to traffickers 56:36 meeting with kids that are being trafficked seeing traffic tips on someone's phone that they're selling and 56:41 having all this come out of racing all this come out of one day i'm going to race a car and thinking it was just 56:48 going to be a one-off and having this whole turn in life and uh 56:54 so that's amazing i mean you said yourself even before you were behind the wheel 57:00 you set yourself up with the life that you created and this led to you being able to pursue a passion that generated 57:07 another passion yeah and they all sort of came together so when we wanted to grow our voice 57:13 i had this exposure to fbi guy and then sitting next to a guy with a pornographic image of a child so 57:20 all these things it was meant to be and knowing that this is a path 57:25 that was set before me and to know that you're in that path and you're stepping in that path and it's super tough and 57:33 all the things that we've talked about and then um but it's a massively inside there's 57:38 so much that we get right we when you give the most you get the most and having that experience in life is such a 57:45 blessing and such something to be treasured and that and that when you get to have that experience it's the most 57:51 amazing part of living right so um super thankful uh i know we all have our 57:57 different stories and our paths and what we're doing but each one of them is doing something to 58:03 empower and help other people in in every in a different expression and different way what you're doing 58:08 christina what you're doing with um your rally and it's it's really cool you know you're 58:14 not just doing your job but you found that this is a way and it means that you can actually go affect change in other 58:20 people's lives and that's what makes it so meaningful and and uh a story need that needs to be 58:26 told and you're giving us that opportunity this morning so um yes 58:32 great to be with you guys great opportunity yeah thank you guys so much for being here um 58:38 renee i'm glad that we got the chance to talk about your philanthropic work before we go um i think that's really 58:44 inspiring i think that christina and emily what you guys are doing as well is so inspiring for me and for other women 58:50 so thank you 59:16 you